Scenes of Amelia Earhart taxiing her Lockheed Vega 5B airplane to the ramp, at Oakland Airport, on January 12, 1935, having left Wheeler Field, Honolulu the day before. This completed her solo flight from Honolulu, Hawaii (the first person to successfully accomplish such a transpacific flight). Crowds her airplane as she taxis in, and parks near a hangar of the U.S. Naval Air Station. Amelia stands in the cockpit of her airplane, holding a bouquet of flowers, as crowds mill about on the ramp beneath. Change of scene shows Amelia standing on a steel platform, of the airport tower, with her husband, George Putnam. Closeups of Amelia.

Achievements of American women in 1935. Eleanor Holm Jarrett in a Miami swim meet. She performs backstroke and breaks her own record. A close up of Jarrett. Next segment: Amelia Earhart conquers the Pacific in a historic flight from Hawaii to Oakland California. Earhart emerges from cockpit. People crowd around the plane. A close up of Amelia Earhart receiving flowers from crowd and later posing for photographers. From a December 14, 1959 newsreel recounting events 25 years earlier.

Obsolete trolley cars piled in a huge bonfire in Oakland, California. Seventy-two trolley cars parked in an open area in Oakland. Men marking on trolley cars. Men set trolleys on fire. Burning trolleys.

Former U.S. President Herbert Clark Hoover addresses people in Oakland, California during the Great Depression. He states that the country is on a 'joyride' to bankruptcy. He talks about the reduction in the standard of living of the people and emphasizes importance of reducing waste. He also speaks about inflation and taxation.